The present invention is related to telephone call monitoring systems in general, and in particular to apparatus and methods for logging telephone calls according to non-time-based scheduling criteria.
Telephone call monitoring systems are increasingly being used by businesses to monitor the effectiveness of agents who receive telephone calls. In prior art telephone call monitoring systems data are typically collected on each incoming call to the system. This data consists of a log of events occurring in the system over time for an incoming call. Typical logged data elements are receipt of call, call offered to an application, call presented to an agent or an agent group, call handled or abandoned and length of call. The data representing these data elements are then processed to generate reports for use by management or supervisory personnel. The data may be organized in any number of ways, such as by agent, telephone trunk, agent groups and the like. Based on this information, management and supervisory personnel are able to evaluate an agent""s telephone call activity and take corrective action where an agent""s performance falls below acceptable norms.
Unfortunately, prior art telephone call monitoring systems are limited ill their ability to discriminate between different telephone calls and agents based on criteria other than simple scheduling imperatives and rely almost entirely on human intervention to evaluate the quality of service provided by an agent. Prior art telephone call monitoring systems that provide for telephone call recording typically record either all telephone calls received by an agent or record telephone calls according to a schedule.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved system and methods for logging telephone calls according to non-time-based scheduling criteria that overcomes disadvantages inherent in the prior art.
There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for monitoring agent telephonic interactions with customers, the method including a) receiving a CTI datum associated with a telephone call between an agent and a party, b) determining whether the telephone call is to be recorded by determining whether the CTI datum meets at least one predefined monitoring condition, and, if so, c) recording at least a portion of the telephone call.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the CTI datum is either of the telephone number of the party and the telephone number dialed by the party.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the CTI datum is a business information datum of the party.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is met when the business information datum is in a database of business information data whose calls are to be recorded.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is met when the business information datum is not in a database of business information data whose calls are not to be recorded.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is met when the telephone number is in a database of telephone numbers whose calls are to be recorded.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is met when the telephone number is not in a database of telephone numbers whose calls are not to be recorded.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is met when a portion of the telephone number matches a predetermined telephone number portion.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is met when a portion of the telephone number does not match a predetermined telephone number portion.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recording step c) includes recording an audio portion of the telephone call while recording in synchronicity at least a portion of the agent""s interactions with a computer during the telephone call.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recording step c) includes recording an audio portion of the telephone call.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for monitoring agent telephonic interactions with customers, the method including a) receiving a CTI datum associated with a telephone call between an agent and a party, b) determining whether recording the telephone call will satisfy a metric not associated with the telephone call, and, if so, c) recording at least a portion of the telephone call.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes maintaining the number of calls which the agent has received, the number of the calls which have been recorded, and a percentage of the agent""s calls which are to be recorded, and where the metric is a percentage of the agent""s calls which are to be recorded.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes associating the agent with a department, and maintaining the number of calls which the department has received, the number of the calls which have been recorded, and a percentage of the department""s calls which are to be recorded, and where the metric is a percentage of the department""s calls which are to be recorded.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes associating the agent with a supervisor, and maintaining a number of calls which the supervisor is to monitor in a given time period, and where the metric is a maximum number of calls to be recorded for the supervisor within the time period.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recording step c) includes recording an audio portion of the telephone call while recording in synchronicity at least a portion of the agent""s interactions with a computer during the telephone call.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recording step c) includes recording an audio portion of the telephone call.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for monitoring agent telephonic interactions with customers, the method including a) determining whether the agent""s interactions with a computer during a telephone call received by the agent meets at least one predefined monitoring condition, and, if so c) recording at least a portion of the telephone call.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is whether input has been entered into any data field appearing on a display of the computer.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is whether input has been entered into at least one specific data field appearing on a display of the computer.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is whether at least one specific data field appears on a display of the computer.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recording step b) includes recording an audio portion of the telephone call while recording in synchronicity at least a portion of the agent""s interactions with a computer during the telephone call.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for monitoring agent telephonic interactions with customers, the method including a) determining whether an agent satisfies a monitoring condition, and, if so b) recording at least a portion of a telephone call received by the agent.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the monitoring condition is whether the agent has a specific skill.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes maintaining a score for the agent and where the monitoring condition is whether the score is less than or equal to a predetermined reference score.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the determining step includes maintaining a score for the agent and where the monitoring condition is whether the score is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference score.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recording step b) includes recording an audio portion of the telephone call.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recording step b) includes recording an audio portion of the telephone call while recording in synchronicity at least a portion of the agent""s interactions with a computer during the telephone call.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for monitoring agent telephonic interactions with customers, the method including a) pre-recording a first speech portion of a telephone call received by an agent b) determining whether the speech portion satisfies a monitoring condition, and, if so c) recording at least a second portion of the telephone call.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes combining the first and second portions.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the determining step includes identifying at least one word spoken during the telephone call and where the monitoring condition is whether the word is in a database of words which require the recording of telephone calls.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the determining step includes identifying a plurality of words spoken during the telephone call and where the monitoring condition is satisfied when at least one word in a database of words is absent from the plurality of words.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the determining step includes determining a speech rate of words spoken during the telephone call and where the monitoring condition is whether the speech rate exceeds a predefined speech rate.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the determining step includes determining a speech rate of words spoken during the telephone call and where the monitoring condition is whether the speech rate is slower than a predefined speech rate.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the determining step includes determining the number of words spoken during the telephone call and where the monitoring condition is whether the number of words exceeds a predefined number of words.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the determining step includes determining the number of words spoken during the telephone call and where the monitoring condition is whether the number of words is less than a predefined number of words.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the determining step includes determining a state of emotion present during the telephone call and where the monitoring condition is whether the state of emotion exceeds a predefined emotion threshold.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recording step b) includes recording an audio portion of the telephone call while recording in synchronicity at least a portion of the agent""s interactions with a computer during the telephone call.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for monitoring agent telephonic interactions with customers, the method including a) recording, during a telephone call between an agent and a party, either of at least a first audio portion of a telephone call and at least a first agent interaction with a computer, and b) recording, after the conclusion of the telephone call, at least a second agent interaction with the computer in association with either of the first portion and the first interaction.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recording step b) includes recording until a stop condition is reached.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the stop condition is an elapsed period of time.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the stop condition is the receipt of a notification of a second telephone call in progress with the agent subsequent to the first-mentioned telephone call.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for monitoring agent telephonic interactions with customers, the method including a) receiving a plurality of notifications that a plurality of customer telephone calls are currently in progress with a plurality of agents, b) determining whether recording resources are currently available for recording, and, if so c) recording at least a portion of any of the telephone calls selected at random and currently in progress with one of the plurality of agents, and d) recording in synchronicity with the recording step c) at least a portion of the one of the plurality of agent""s interactions with a computer during the telephone call.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention any of the recording steps continue recording until the recording resources are no longer currently available for recording thereto.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the recorded agent interaction with a computer includes at least one screen shot of a display of the computer.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for monitoring agent telephonic interactions with customers, the method including a) pre-recording a plurality of telephone calls between a plurality of agents and a plurality of parties, b) determining whether any of the telephone calls is to be retained by determining whether any of the telephone calls meets at least one retention condition, and, if so, c) tagging the telephone call to be retained with a retention indicator.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes d) tagging the telephone call to be retained with a release indicator indicating when the retention indicator is to be removed.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the release indicator indicates a predefined period of time after which the retention indicator is to be removed.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the release indicator indicates that the retention indicator is to be removed subsequent to performing an evaluation of the telephone call.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the release indicator indicates that the retention indicator is to be removed after a predefined period of time subsequent to performing an evaluation of the telephone call.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the release indicator indicates a storage threshold and where the retention indicator is removed after the storage threshold is exceeded.